Champions League: A Night in Monaco for Buzzing Barca  

Monaco vs Barcelona

The Champions League is up and running in its new format this week and, with 36 teams in the competition, the opening matches run over three days.

Reigning champions Real Madrid start with a home tie against VfB Stuttgart on Tuesday and, on Wednesday, tournament favourites Manchester City meet Scudetto winners Inter Milan. Then, on Thursday, there are six more big matches, with the pick of the bunch seeing La Liga pace-setters Barcelona making the relatively short trip across the border to face Monaco at the Stade Louis II.    

Hansi Flick has made a brilliant start as Barcelona boss with five wins from five in the league, seeing off Girona in the Catalan derby last weekend with a convincing 4-1 win. And Adi Hutter’s Monaco too have been impressive, a 3-0 win away to Auxerre on Saturday making it ten points from four games and putting them in third place in the Ligue 1 table, two points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain. 

When the two teams met in a pre-season friendly AS Monaco won 3-0 to claim the Joan Gamper Trophy; but that game signalled the end of league preparations and I think we’ll see a different story in Monaco on Thursday.

 

Talking Points

Hutter shuffles his pack

After drawing their previous match 1-1 with RC Lens, Monaco got back to winning ways away to Auxerre and, with one eye on the Champions League, Hutter rang the changes. He brought Thilo Kehrer and Mohamed Salisu into defence and we may see Jordan Tese slot into the back line on Thursday. In midfield Hutter gave a start to summer signing Lamine Camara and he made an assist, while Alexander Golovin moved into the front four. Attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino made way for Golovin but he will be pushing for a start against the Blaugrana.

Two players who will surely make an appearance are skipper Denis Zakaria and striker Breel Embolo. The Swiss pair are big players for Monaco, Zakaria patrolling the midfield and Embolo providing pace and a constant goal threat up front; though it is Zakaria who has scored twice in two games, the opener against Lens and the third goal against Auxerre.

 

Olmo out for Barca

The big Champions League 2024 news coming out of Catalonia this week is that summer signing Dani Olmo is likely to be out for up to five weeks after he picked up a hamstring injury in the 4-1 win over Girona. After starring at Euro 2024 Olmo has settled brilliantly into his role at Barcelona and, after Lamine Yamal had scored a first half brace, the Spaniard took the game away from their neighbours with a well taken third. It’s a blow to Flick to lose a player who had scored three goals in three games, but he has a ready made replacement in Ferran Torres, who came on as substitute midway through the second half against Girona. Torres didn’t finish the game, copping a late red card but while he will have to sit out the next La Liga match, Flick may well use him in the Champions League and make the most of his squad. Torres can play on the left flank with Yamal on the right and Raphinha moving into the middle.   

 

History

These two teams have met three times before; twice back in the 1993/94 Champions League group stage when Barcelona won both ties, winning 2-0 in Catalonia and 1-0 in the South of France. And then Monaco put down a marker with their pre-season friendly win.  

 

Monaco are making their first appearance in the Champions League proper since 2018/19 while Barcelona are hoping to continue their recently modest progression, having reached the knockout phase in 2024 after dropping out at the group stage in the two previous years. Flick’s team will expect to go deep into the competition while Monaco will hope to avoid dropping out after the big league group stage.     

Both teams are in fine shape coming into the clash, the Blaugrana winning their first five games of the campaign, scoring 17 goals and conceding four, while AS Monaco have won three and drawn one, scoring seven goals and conceding one.    

 

Betting Tip

Barcelona are fourth favourites to win the tournament with the Champions League 2024 betting odds pricing Flick’s men at 11.80, while AS Monaco are about half way down the list of 36 teams with a price of 101.00. But in its new format it’s a long competition and the result on Wednesday is just the beginning.

This match is not the easiest to call with both teams in good form though Barca have been more impressive, which leads the SBOTOP odds to favour the visitors for an opening victory. Monaco are available at 3.72 to win or 3.56 to draw and they will certainly give the Blaugrana a serious test in a hostile atmosphere at the Stade Louis II.

   

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